A review of secondary school revision resources on BBC Bitesize has sparked fierce criticism after uncovering interactive tasks that dock points from pupils who select deportation over open borders.
Nearly 1.7 million pupils log on to BBC Bitesize every week, but an investigation into pre-GCSE content has revealed that the educational site is encouraging children to support amnesty and open borders.
The service was launched in 1998 and is recommended as a study tool by the majority of state schools across the UK. However, a review of its teaching materials found that it promotes specific views on migration through an interactive exercise called Increasing Immigration.
Before pupils start the game, the platform sets out its core premise on population and labour.
We don’t have enough people of working age to keep our society running smoothly. We should try to attract migrant workers and incorporate them into our economy.
Deportation penalised in classroom game
Players navigate various scenarios that present choices coming with a budget cost, before detailing the consequences on the economy, public health, and the environment.
In one scenario, pupils are informed that a few immigrants are residing in the UK without proper visas or permission, leaving them to choose between granting amnesty or carrying out deportation.
Selecting deportation causes pupils to lose one point on the economy and one point on public health. The game also warns them that deportation can be potentially dangerous for immigrants and tells them not to expect the move to go unchallenged.
Choosing amnesty leads to a very different outcome. Children are told that the decision will make the migrants very happy and are rewarded with two points for both the economy and public health.
Amnesty awarded with bonus points
A second scenario presented to geography pupils claims that allowing individuals to cross the border easily could really help grow the economy.
Selecting open borders yields three economy points and two public health points. In contrast, choosing not to support open borders awards zero points, with the game describing the refusal as a too radical option.
The state broadcaster brainwashing children using a homework game is like something from a North Korean re-education camp.
Gavin Williamson MP, former Tory Education Secretary
Politicians demand immediate removal
Former Tory Education Secretary Gavin Williamson MP strongly condemned the broadcaster following the findings.
The mask has slipped and the BBC has yet again betrayed its rampant Left-wing political agenda.
Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott demanded that the BBC take down the game from its website. She stated that the broadcaster has a duty to remain impartial rather than push a Left-wing political agenda onto young children.
Former controller of BBC television Danny Cohen called for an urgent inquiry into the platform’s material.
The BBC needs to explain why its educational website is pushing extreme Left-wing ideologies to schoolchildren. There is such a lack of balance in so many areas of the BBC’s output that it cannot be seriously defended as coincidental.
Shadow Cabinet Office Secretary Alex Burghart stated that the public broadcaster had strayed from its founding purpose.
The BBC was set up to inform, educate and entertain – not misinform, re-educate and brainwash.
Borderless world promoted in video
Beyond the interactive game, the website lists twice as many benefits to migration as it does disadvantages.
The platform also features content promoting a world without borders, including a video aimed at Welsh geography students.
As technology evolves… the question remains: can we learn to live with globalisation? And with it, fulfil the promise of a truly borderless world.
A spokesman for the BBC defended the creation of its online educational resources.
BBC Bitesize works with educational consultants to develop resources that help young people explore and understand a wide range of topics, aligned to the respective curriculums across the UK. While we don’t accept the characterisation of Bitesize in this story, we regularly review content to ensure it remains relevant and to ensure it meets the BBC’s editorial standards and will review these examples in that context.